The Sports Ministry has cleared an 804-member Indian contingent, including 572 athletes, for the Asian Games but said it will bear the expense of 755 members with 49 out of 232 officials allowed at no cost to government.

India finish the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast with 66 medals – 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze. India bettered their medal tally from Glasgow four years back and this was their third most successful CWG campaign after CWG 2010 which was held in Delhi and CWG 2002 which was hosted in Manchester.

With caste discrimination a confounding catalyst of division in rural India, Ulrik Reinhard, a German native did something that was importantly needed in a caste incited rural village – she built a skateboard park to give school children a vocation, encourage freedom of expression and dismiss the caste identities dividing their generation. The skateboard park in the Janwaar village of Madhya Pradesh helps children have nurturing friendships and break through caste barriers while learning something fun.

Speaking as the key note speaker at the ‘International Conference On Perspectives and Practices in Play’, she commented on the result of the skate park saying, “The skate park has been the one area where there is no difference in gender and an Adivasi and a Yadav come together. There is no hierarchy and everyone calls each other by their names. The beautiful thing about play is that it is an environment where free spirits are allowed to grow unlike the education system in India. The only two rules we had were ‘Girls first’ and ‘No school. No skateboarding’. This environment has slowly spread outside the vicinity of the skate park.”

The skateboard park has brought new change by turning upside down the orthodox mind-set that was previously a mainstay of thought among villagers. The children of the Yadav and Adivasi caste now mingle without reproach, and they have also learnt to speak out against the ways of the past, being promoted by their sense of identity and freedom of expression.

Conor McGregor has never backed down from a fight and has only lost one in his career. Besides the trash talk from Conor McGregor preceding his boxing match versus Floyd Mayweather on 26th August in Las Vegas, what is the UFC star doing to keep himself busy? Training for the most part, of course, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t showing off his moolah on his free time.

Mayweather may be ‘Money’ but Conor is definitely ‘Notorious’, and his spending habits and lifestyle persona are anything but humble. Here’s a picture of when McGregor stepped out of gym and posted an Instagram of himself with a snazzy BMW i8, alongside the caption ‘White on white today.’

Conor McGregor wasn’t done, hours later he shared a new snap, this time with himself in the gym, shirtless inside the ring and preparing to train with the caption, ‘I’m just about to warm up.’

As McGregor readies himself for unfamiliar terrain in the world of boxing, he is going to put a notch up his training regime and his coach John Kavanagh is ready to specifically work on one aspect as a main focus – sparring. In an enquiry by the Mac Life, a YouTube channel, coach Kavanagh said, ‘Without going into too much detail – just to throw a number at you – we’re doing four times the amount of sparring for this camp than we would do for a regular MMA camp.

Star Sports is launching Star Sports First, what will be India’s first ever private free-to-air sports channel. The channel will be available on Doodarshan’s free-to-air d2h platform Freedish. Currently, the only free-to-air sports channel is Doodarshan’s DD Sports.

Star India won two slots for the d2h platform e-auction on July 4th, part of 11 channel slots that were sold in the auction. Doodarshan netted a total of Rs. 85 crore from all the channels. Star Sports are yet to make an official announcement regarding their free-to-air sports channel, but are not declining its existence.

Star’s free-to-air sports channel is being released just weeks before the fifth season of the Pro Kabaddi League, something that some speculate is no coincidence; owing to Star Sports owning a 74% stake in Mashal Sports, the firm that launched the league. The free-to-air channel will target groups of demographic that do not have organized cable providers, especially those not in the top 50 towns in India. This means that Indian origin games like kabaddi and cricket will have a larger audience.

Pankaj Advani is one of the greatest cueists which this country has ever produced. He has won 16 World Championship in snooker and billiards in various different formats and is nothing short of a national icon. But over the years, despite constant success, he has hardly received the recognition which he so richly deserves.

India is a country where the sport of cricket takes all the limelight and very often, other sporting achievements are often lost in the shuffle. It has been a similar story with Pankaj Advani. The Indian icon has now taken to his Facebook account after another brilliant triumph of his to take a thinly veiled dig at Indian cricketers.

Who says tennis doesn’t have hilarity too? Even if tennis matches are a sombre affair, something catches attention and the camera’s notice every once in a while; the last time may have been the sound of people having sex in an apartment nearby. This time, it was US star Jack Sock throwing his Wimbledon towel to a young fan in the audience, only to have it snatched away by an older man.

The video is blocked in this region but if you see it, it’s hard not to laugh or cry. The old man insists on keeping the towel although it was meant for the boy. Sock clearly didn’t like the bullying one bit, he wrote on Instagram, “If anyone knows who this kid is who had the towel ripped out of his hands by the elderly man, comment his name so I can be sure to get him his own towel.”

The boy messaged Jack on Instagram, and Jack realized that he didn’t quite pay attention to who wanted the towel when he threw it. Social media criticized the older man for his rude behaviour, while sympathetic messages ran out from tennis fans supporting the boy. It all might be a little too much for an issue this small, but tennis is a gentlemanly affair and it would indeed be nice if the boy got what he deserves.

England cricketers Joss Buttler and Alex Hales made a guest appearance playing a sport that is far from their area of expertise – baseball. They attended a night of ‘Home Run Derby’ in Hyde Park, organized by Major League Baseball to increase the popularity of the American bred sport in the UK. Buttler represented a five-person Boston Red Sox team while his England teammate Hales played for the Dodgers.

Hales was first in line to the batting cage, his two-minute slot saw him take an off-drive and after his short warm-up, he hit six home runs, winning a total of eight points. Buttler didn’t quite match up to Hales and was given a small off-field penalty for it. Speaking on the bet, Hales said, “We were going to have a fiver on it. But decided that the one who lost ought to go home wearing the baseball uniform.”

The duo’s trip was a goodwill mission for the 4th of July celebrations in the USA, the two commented on how cricket is sure to gain popularity too, as more cross-overs happen in the future. They also commented on how baseball technique and style of play is something that can help professional cricket players to perfect their level of play.

With the Confederations Cup now closed and football fans hungry for more football action, football stars are snapped everywhere and appear on social media doing their own thing while they still have the time. While Messi is preparing for his wedding and a ton of footballers are getting engaged or married, Ivan Perisic is doing something different. He’s representing Croatia for his professional beach volleyball debut, a sport that is still in the undertow of less influential sports but one that still has an audience nonetheless.

Perisic and his partner Nikša Dell’Orco played in the Pore? Major, a prestigious volleyball tournament. Perisic and his partner lost to a pair of Brazilian Olympians 21-10, 21-10 and also to an American pair 21-11, 21-16. Bad luck for Perisic, we guess, but the man needs to be given credit for keeping to sports even when he’s off the football field.

Perisic spoke to media following the match, explaining why he was participating, “This was always my dream. I have been playing beach volleyball since I was 10. I’m very passionate about this game and every summer I have been practising with my friend in Split.”

Good luck to Perisic, but Inter Milan seems to be jealous of his prying into other sports, seeking to keep him on his game without the worry of injury or missing out on matches due to playing another sport.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently made a statement on the ‘important role’ that sports plays in uniting India. He spoke on how his government is trying to bring local indigenous sports like kabaddi into the national level.

In an inauguration of a synthetic track of P.T. Usha’s USHA School of Athletics at Kinalur village in Kerala, Modi profoundly said, “Ours is a country with rich and diverse culture, which has almost 100 languages and more than 1,600 dialects, different eating habits, dresses and festivals. Sports plays an important role in uniting us.”

He went on further to applaud P.T Usha’s contribution to Indian sports and said that the new track he was inaugurating would provide the most modern facilities to trainees.

“P.T. Usha has been a shining light of sports in India. She endured several challenges in life and went on to enter Olympics final, missing a medal only by a whisker. In the history of Indian athletics very few have achieved a track record like hers,” he said.

International sports stars have been releasing a number of posts on social media with the hashtag #OlympicDay. The day which is celebrated today on 23 June aims to promote Olympic Day events being held on the same day, promote being active and promote sports as a holistic way of self-improvement.

Starting with the most popular, former Brazilian striker Ronaldo who remains a living legend of football released a post on Instagram challenging people at home to do something for Olympic Day. Carles Puyol, ex-Barcelona player and renowned footballer, posted a video of himself during the Sydney 2000 games in football nostalgia with the #OlympicDay hashtag.

Conor McGregor, the infamous UFC superstar; and Cristiano Ronaldo, the footballing legend, met each other last summer at a bout ring in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both the men have dominated the news recently, with McGregor on a schedule to fight Floyd Mayweather in August and Ronaldo seeing his best season of football ever, although he is also amidst a legal case regarding tax fraud.

Ronaldo is seeking a transfer after making it big into two clubs, Manchester United and Real Madrid. It’s still unclear where Ronaldo will go but expect obviously substantial pay-outs for CR7. Meanwhile, McGregor, who only has been defeated in one match against Nate Diaz, had an unstoppable round of fury in his last match against Eddie Alvarez and became the first fighter in promotion to hold two belts. It remains to be seen whether there is a worthy contender to McGregor in UFC, but the Floyd Mayweather fight will see him take on a professional boxer in a sport that is not his usual terrain.

Ronaldo and McGregor talked about everything from J-Lo to Forbes and discussing training. Here is the Instagram post with the two showing off their brutal muscle:

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is set to host mixed-gender events in athletics, swimming, table tennis and triathlon, according to an announcement made by the IOC. The new Olympics has its aim to be more ‘youthful, more urban and include more women’, according to IOC president Thomas Bach.

Among the included games will be a 4X400m mixed relay in athletics, a 4X100m medley mixed relay in swimming, a mixed relay in triathlon and a mixed doubles in table tennis. Tokyo 2020 will be adding 5 more sports to the Olympics since Rio, bringing the number of sports to 33. Some sports have gained new events while others like the newly introduced freestyle BMX, which is the third largest in the Olympics in terms of medals, promise to bring a new aspect to professional athletes.

So how does this younger and more gender equal Olympics stack up to an ideal Olympics? The answers are argumentative – the need for a younger demographic of audience might make the Olympics more popular and encourage cities to host the Games. However, other people might call out how the Olympics is becoming sub-standard and not paramount to keeping up with its professional appearance.

In lieu of the French Open, an unlikely sight has popped up on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. A flying fox, otherwise known as a zipline, will allow those daring enough to travel at 90 kilometres an hour.

The idea behind the zipline is to replicate the speed at which professional players hit the ball during games; participants will sail from the Eiffel Tower at a mind-blowing speed while staying 115 metres above the ground.

The zipline ends when participants land on a platform in the Champs de Mars park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. As part of promotion for the French Open, big screens will be set up in the park so spectators can follow tennis matches throughout the week.

The landscape of sports has changed tremendously from what it was 50 years ago. While sports have become appreciated and participated on a larger scale, athletes have also become much more powerful in their approach to a game. This competition has made professional-level sports more competitive and provided the need for athletes to always be ahead of their opponents. It’s not talent that drives the force of a team anymore as much as it is the health and fitness of participants. This is where sports performance companies bring the bigger picture by combining science and technology to help athletes avoid injury and improve their performance.

Kitman Labs uses athlete data to form insights into ways to help teams and individuals perform better. They use three products as part of their suite: Capture, Athlete and Profiler. ‘Capture’ uses motion-capture technology to make biomechanical assessments from which judgements can be made. ‘Athlete’ is an app that allows for wellness and psychological data to be sent to coaching staff. ‘Profiler’ understands health parameters of an individual in order to predict risk of injury.

P3 Applied Sports Science is a part training environment and part research laboratory, using the scientific method to observe, measure, experiment and test athlete physics and development.

Javelin thrower Anu Rani stole the limelight as she smashed her own national record en route to winning the gold medal on the fourth and final day of the 21st Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships here.

Rani, representing Uttar Pradesh, threw the spear to a distance of 61.86m to better her own earlier national mark of 60.01m in the last event of the competition at the NIS Patiala. In the process, she also qualified for the World Championships to be held in London in August. The qualifying mark for the World Championships stands at 61.40m.

Suman Devi, also of Uttar Pradesh, took the silver with a best throw of 55.03m, while K Rashmi of Karnataka won the bronze with 51.12m. Rio Olympian Nirmala Devi of Haryana also qualified for the World Championships as she won the gold in women’s 400m race with a meet record timing of 51.28 seconds. The World Championships qualifying mark for women’s 400m stands at 52.10 seconds.

Delhi University has 36 sports disciplines that come under its quota for admission. All colleges in India currently reserve 5% of seats for sports and extracurricular activities (ECA). Not possessing the high cut-off may not be an obstacle for sports enthusiasts who can now get admission to the university based on performance certificates and trials in one of the 36 disciplines (Everything from basketball to archery). While the university earlier gave 50% weightage to sports trial and 50% to sports certificates, the admission committee has changed its policy to 60% weightage to trial and 40% to certificates. This taps into a field of students with large potential talent but not enough merit.

“Students, who are good at sports can apply through this category. The university and college will support the student in pursuing the sport during the three years of college,” stated Anil Kumar Kalkal, director of Delhi University’s sports council to Hindustan Times.

The university will now have sports-specific physical tests instead of regular fitness tests preceding the trials. Considering the number of sports and their vast flexibility and variance in terms of physical strength and capability, a sports-specific test would make more sense to have a proper filter of students for the trial. The trials will also have specific centres for different sports instead of having it at one of the colleges. A minimum of 30 marks is required to pass the sports trial.

The American football star and husband to Giselle Bundchen lives the high life and is the ultimate role model to the American dream. The star had a countdown to introducing his Instagram page on Facebook live and in his true roaring quarterback style he went all-out crazy by the end of it. The guy has a sense of humour and is known for it, besides owning the scene for his team, The New England Patriots.

Here’s a video of Brady in a promotion for EA’s Madden NFL 2018, where Brady dispels the ‘Madden curse’ in a rather hilarious turn of events,

Young javelin thrower Rohit Yadav is set to be stripped of the silver medal that he won at the Asian Youth Athletics championship after he tested positive for a banned substance.

The 16-year-old Yadav, a 2016 World School Games gold medallist, was placed under provisional suspension after his ‘A’ sample returned positive for ‘stanozolol’.

“Rohit has tested positive for stanozolol and he has been placed under provisional suspension,” a top AFI official told PTI.

“It is just ‘A’ sample right now and AFI got the results of the test on May 23, that is final day of the Asian Youth Athletics Championship in Bangkok. AFI didn’t know about the dope result and so he was sent,” he added.

The International Conference of Sports for Women (ICSW) will have its fourth edition in UAE in November. This year’s conference will be organized by the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy (FBMA) and feature some of the most popular and iconic women sports figures in the global industry.

The event has received international recognition for promoting women in sports both internationally and under the FBMA’s goal of promoting sports in UAE culture and the day-to-day activity of Emirati women. The conference is also recognized for bringing to light topics about women’s sports that need to be assessed in order for women to be empowered and have better outlets to participate in sports. Each point of view brought forth by prominent women sports figures are taken into account and debated.

Japan is known for preserving their culture and heritage, and in the lieu of modern times, a new generation of anime fans and young adults have formed a sub-culture of their own. Inventors in Japan decided to add the fun of video games, anime and manga into playable ‘superhuman’ sports involving rather strange but fun technology and props.

The ‘Superhuman Sports Society’ is a Tokyo-based group of researchers and game designers who have created 12 new playable sports since 2015. ‘Hado’, one of the games, has players wear head devices with augmented reality displays and armband sensors while they fire energy balls at their opponents in a virtual reality spin-off of anime like ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and ‘Street Fighter’.

Ryoichi Ando, a virtual-reality researcher, invented Bubble Jumper, a game that mimics the wearing of a kind of augmented body suit that boosts the wearer’s strength, keen to fantasy movies. Players walk on stilts and wear inflatable bubble suits while they crash into each other in a head-to-head sumo wrestling battle.

The second edition of the Indian Open of Surfing begins on May 26th at Sasihithlu Beach in Mangaluru. The three-day surfing championship is hosted by Mantra Surf Club and has been recognized by the Surfing Federation of India. Mangaluru is known for its surfing spirit, with regulars from India and around the world riding the waves. Additionally, Mangaluru houses some important surfing organizations in India including India’s first surf club/school, Mantra Surf Club and the Surfing Federation of India.

Last year’s first event had an enormous amount of spectators and eight different categories for contestants. Auroville’s Samai Reboul took home the no.1 spot and the cash prize of INR 50,000, becoming the event’s first winner. This year’s event, with renewed popularity, is set to rake in athletes from the East and West Coasts of India and many international athletes as well. A total of about 120 surfers are predicted to participate, according to The Hindu.

The event is also a chance for tourism to shine in Karnataka, to make it a top destination for surfers’ next surf trip instead of the more popular locations like Bali, Costa Rica or Australia. It’s interesting to see surfing gain popularity on Indian beaches, especially since water sports seem to dominate on tourist spots, where surfers could instead change the landscape and hang ten.

A 12-year-old girl in Japan fought someone twice her age in an MMA bout and won. A schoolgirl named Momo Shimizu took on a 24-year-old in an MMA ring in Japan. People from the USA were scared that she might be too young to go into a heavy all-out fight, but the 12-year-old was more determined than people thought she was.

After just a few kicks, Shimizu took down the girl twice her size with a choke submission, effectively ending the match in the first round. Momoko Yamazaki, her opponent, clearly didn’t see it coming, even if she knew the girl (although only 12 years) had better combat experience and training than she did. Yamazaki was strangled unconscious and the referee ended the match.

Shimizu’s agent spoke about Shimizu before the fight, “Momo already had over 100 amateur BJJ, kickboxing, and karate matches, therefore, she has far more experience in combat sports than her upcoming opponent [Yamazki]. On May 20th, we all strongly believe Momo will beat Yamazaki. I think it’s gonna be a public humiliation for Yamazaki.” Shimizu, at the age of 12, is already a professional fighter and has been training six times a week for a minimum of three hours per day since kindergarten. It’s no surprise that one choke-out on her opponent who was twice her size put her lights off.

A 50-year-old American climber died on Mount Everest on Sunday 21st May, the third death on Mount Everest in the past month, raising many safety concerns for climbers and enthusiasts. The area called the ‘death zone’ on Mount Everest has caused many fatalities; Roland perished at an altitude of approximately 8,400 metres in the area which is known for thin air. This report came from Murari Sharma of the Everest Parivas trekking company that sponsored the climb.

In a conversation with Reuters, Sharma stated, “We have confirmation of his death but no other details are known. It is also unclear if he was on his way up or down from the summit.”

Roland Yearwood was part of a 16-member team that began climbing the Nepali side of the mountain. Just a day earlier, a man named Ravi Kumar began his descent from the peak of Mount Everest and went missing in the same area. Thupden Sherpa of the Arun Treks and Expedition company said Kumar got separated from his guide near a place called Balcony on Saturday. Three Sherpa rescuers reportedly went in search of Kumar.

On April 30th, a famous Swiss climber died when he fell from a height and an 85-year-old Nepali man died at his base camp while trying to set the record for the oldest climber. Despite the frequent demises, Nepal has still cleared 371 mountaineers to climb Mount Everest during the current season.

India’s Mahaveer Raghunathan clinched his third consecutive podium finish in the BOSS GP 2017 championship (an FIA accredited series, formerly known as Auto GP) in the Netherlands on Saturday.

Chennai-based Mahaveer finished second in Race 1 at Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands, according to a press note. The 18-year-old, who represents Italian team Coloni Motorsport and drives a Lola Gibson Tech 3.4 V8 car in the Formula class, is currently second in the championship standings after three races with 62 points, 10 behind leader Johann Ledermair of Austria.

The second race will be held later today. Mahaveer qualified fourth overall in a combined grid of 13 cars and was second fastest in his Formula category, which had 10 cars in total. Starting fourth on the grid, Mahaveer moved up a position in the fourth lap and maintained the spot in the 14 lap race.

In the first major competition after last year’s Rio Olympics, the recurve archers failed to make much progress with Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari making quarterfinal exits in their respective rounds. But it was the non-Olympic compound section that brought back smiles in the camp with a superlative show from fourth-seeded Abhishek Verma, Raju Chinna Srither and debutant Amanjeet Singh.

Competing as a team for the first time, India defeated 10th seeded Colombia’s Camilo Cardona, Daniel Munoz and Jose Carlos Ospina 226-221 in a one-sided final this morning. Earlier, the fourth-seeded ousted Vietnam, World Champion Iran and top-ranked USA to make the finals against Colombia.

“Before coming here, we planned every detail to make it work. We all shot well throughout week and what we really want is to create a good impression of us in front of other teams,” Verma said after winning his first team gold, and second overall in the World Cup.

The Asian Games Incheon-2014 silver medalist had a heartbreak in store in the afternoon session when he along with Jyoth Surekha Vennam lost the bronze playoff to Reo Wilde and Jamie van Natta by a slender 151-153. The 27-year-old Delhi lad Verma has previously won an individual gold in the World Cup Stage 3 Wroclaw-2015.

23-year old Bajrang Punia has made India proud by winning the nation’s first gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships that’s being held in Delhi. The 23-year-old fended off Kim Kukgwang of North Korea 7-5 in the earlier bout to book his place in the summit showdown. The young grappler from Jhajjar, Haryana got the better off Korea’s Lee Seungchul in the 65 Kg Men’s freestyle category. Yogeshwar Dutt, one of India’s finest wrestler was also present at the event when the young Bajrang got the better off his Korean counterpart.

Earlier, India’s first medalist for India in the Rio Olympics, Sakshi Malik had to settle for only a silver medal after losing to Risako Kawai of Japan by 0-10 in the gold medal match of 60 kg category. Another fighter from India and someone who broke her knee in the Rio Olympics while being in contention for a medal, Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat also lost her gold medal match to Sae Nanjo of Japan, going down fighting, 4-8 to in freestyle 55kg finals.

Six Indian climbers today reached the top of Mt Everest, the world’s highest mountain, becoming the first group to successfully summit the peak this season.

The six Indian climbers and 10 Nepali Sherpas stood atop the 8,850-metre peak this morning, with the first climber reaching the summit at 8.20 am local time as others followed, said officials at the expedition organiser Transcendental Adventures. Suresh Babu, Durga Rao Kunja, Bharat Thammineni, Krishna Rao Vooyaka, Satya Rao Kare and Nagaraju Sundarana – along with the Sherpas – reached the peak from the northern Tibetan side.

Sundarana, a marathon runner hailing from Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh, was the first India climber to reach the peak, according to Transcend Adventures’ Facebook page. His parents are day labourers. Satya Rao, the son of a fisherman, followed Sundarana to reach the peak 20 minutes later.

Activision Blizzard is looking to make its e-sports league a more broad part of watchable entertainment by reaching out to brands and fans. They are pitching themselves as the ‘first global sport’ and make e-sports more mainstream to attract global brands for advertising dollars. Blizzard’s ‘Major League Gaming’ is aiming to change the current ecosystem of scattered e-sports and form a structured level of ranking, qualification and competition. The plans include having local, national and global competitions, a season, and have regional broadcasts for fans of a team representing their region.

The current scenario of e-sports involves random events created by random promoters, meaning serious viewing is out of the question due to the scattered nature of the games. Major League Gaming’s majority audience consists of people between the ages of 13 and 40 who spend about two hours a day playing and watching e-sports. People who are avid gamers spend around 3 billion hours watching and playing each year. MLG (Major League Gaming) will have to cater to their audience similar to what producers of sports matches have to do to gain their audience.

Speaking to Adweek, Major League Gaming CEO Pete Vlastelica commented on how e-sports is going to be transformed saying, “Sports are getting older, and frankly, the content is mostly trapped behind the paid TV wall. Esports is the first digital native sport; we’re not encumbered by those same issues, which means we can reach a much younger audience where we need them. Brands are savvy enough to understand that’s a good thing.”

Fernando Alonso seems to like to use his time wisely – when his engine failed during a Spanish Grand Prix first practice, Alonso decided to not stare and watch but instead go for a round of tennis to keep his mood steady. Most drivers would go to their private rooms and relax or hang out in the garage and watch things get fixed patiently. But Alonso prefers to keep in shape and keep the momentum going.

Alonso had a frustrating outlap breakdown during FP1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the racer decided he would have a better time leaving the track. He shared a photo on Instagram of himself playing a game of tennis with a friend while the engineers worked on his car. Lewis Hamilton was fastest on the track, representing Mercedes. Alonso’s car was approaching Turn 2 on his first FP1 lap when his McLaren MCL32’s Honda engine failed and he spun off track. Fluid leaked from the car and the car had to be lifted by a crane and taken off the track.

Twitter has announced its intervention into live streaming with live sports streaming on Twitter. The live stream will be accompanied by tweets in a format similar to Facebook. Twitter announced some major names it will be in partnership with as it forays into sports live streaming; these include NFL, MLB, PGA Tour and WNBA.

Besides the partnerships, Twitter will also be foraying into the territory of an original sports experience in a new platform called ‘Stadium’, which will independently offer live college sports, match highlights, live studio programming and classic games. The platform will be financially backed by Twitter’s partners Sinclair Broadcast Group, Silver Chalice and 120 Sports.

Some of the defining features of Twitter’s daring new move include a show called ‘#Verified’ which will spotlight athletes in direct conversation with fans answering questions and providing opinions. Twitter’s PGA Tour Live will stream 70 hours of the game across 31 tournaments; it will also stream 360-degree video of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass during THE PLAYERS Championship from May 11th to May 14th. In the sector of e-sports, Twitter plans to include 1,500 hours of live stream content.

Milo’s new instant drink – ‘MILO Ready to Drink’– is a take-off from Milo’s soluble powder. The drink is a cocoa-malt milk beverage with low sugar created specifically for children. Milo, as part of their campaign to promote the drink, has launched MILO® – GROW WITH SPORTS, a television commercial aimed at bringing awareness about the importance of sport to a child in his/her formative years. The TVC focuses on the life values that sports bring and how MILO needs to be a child’s nourishing beverage for them to be at their best. The ad is targeted as mothers who need to be informed that their child needs more than books to learn values like teamwork, fortitude and confidence.

The TVC features different groups of children playing a variety of sports (Football, Basketball, Kabadi, Athletics) while a voice-over explains how sport doesn’t just need good physical health but intelligence too. The new Milo beverage focuses on its nutritious value; it contains important minerals, vitamins and has less than 10 grams of sugar per pack. Milo already has a consumer base in India, with the soluble powder variant occupying shelves for over 80 years.

Mr. Arvind Bhandari, the General Manager of Dairy, Nestle India Ltd spoke on the launch saying, “The MILO brand encourages participation in sports from an early stage in life. MILO believes that sports help children imbibe life values that are critical for personality development and help set the foundation for a successful future.”

Talented shuttler B Sai Praneeth and Olympian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal were among the six new athletes selected by GoSports Foundation, who will be supported during the third year of their ‘Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme’.

The other new entrants are Asian Games bronze medallist rower Dushyant, CWG gold medallist weightlifters Kojum Taba and N Sathish Kumar. Gymnast Rakesh Patra, who has participated in three World Championship is also a part of the project.

This project comprises 20 elite athletes and 14 from the previous term have been retained. It includes likes of gymnast Dipa Karmakar, shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma, golfer Chikkarangappa to name a few.

The new entrants were brought in via an exhaustive selection process which saw 282 talented sportspersons competing in Olympic disciplines apply for support.

The applicants were put through three rounds of screening, basis their performance and future potential. For the final round, 17 athletes were interviewed on April 22 in Mumbai, by an interview panel comprising actor Rahul Bose (former India rugby player), Leadership Trainer, Executive Coach, and Programme Advisory Board member Girish Manimaran, and GoSports Foundation Executive Director Deepthi Bopaiah.

The support structure offered to the athletes will be broadly directed towards: Training and Development, Competition, Mentorship, Legal Advice for Commercial Engagements, Support on Media Management and PR Career Guidance, Knowledge Building Workshops and Seminars.

Speaking after the completion of the interviews in Mumbai, Dravid said:”It’s incredible to see the number of sportspersons who have applied to the programme as we move into our third year. Personally, I am inspired by all their stories and look forward to interacting with them through the programme term. Hopefully, their success can continue to inspire many others to strive for sporting excellence.”

Five Pakistani athletes were today arrested for shouting “Go Nawaz Go” against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during an annual sports event here, two days after he escaped disqualification in a corruption case.

“The railways police arrested five young athletes for chanting ‘Go Nawaz Go’ during the speech of Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique at the railways headquarters in Lahore,” an official told PTI.

The official said the minister ordered his staff to stop those chanting slogans against the prime minister.

“However, when the five athletes refused to comply with the minister’s order, the railways police intervened and took them into custody. The police also tortured them for raising slogans against the prime minister,” the official said.

Although railways spokesman Najam Wali claimed that the athletes have been set free, the railways police have summoned their parents to settle the matter. “The young sportsmen will be allowed to go home after they and their parents tender a written apology,” the official said.

Opposition Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan People’s Party said the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has been unnerved after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Panama Papers leaks case two days ago.

“Now from ever nook and corner of the country ‘Go Nawaz GO’ slogan will be raised and how many the government will arrest,” said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Ejaz Chaudhry.

Each Olympics has a set of legacies, or pro-development ideas that serve to enrich the country the Olympics is held in. The 2012 London Olympics, for example, focused on the long-term benefits of the planning, funding and staging of the Olympics held within the country. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will focus on English fluency and proficiency among athletes before the start of the games 3 years from now. The idea behind the aim is to help Japanese athletes participate more cohesively in international tournaments, where English-speaking is paramount to effective communication.
English language school operator ‘Aeon Corp’ has signed up to offer its services to Japan Rugby Football Union players to help them speak English before the Rugby World Cup in 2019. The textbook which will be used to educate them includes the basics of phrases and words that would need to be used in a tourist situation in an English-speaking country. Besides these, basic modes of speech for foreign interviews and media meets will also be taught.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics is also planning on using its torch relay event as a medium for consolation of disaster-struck regions in Japan, especially those affected by the Hiroshima-Nagasaki atom bombs. They plan to promote a feeling of unity by having the torch relay participants run through the regions, in an aim to bring a moment of solidarity through the Olympics.

Ever wondered what it would be like to sit in your room and feel like you were in the stadium of an IPL match? VR headsets for sports are soon to become a reality, allowing you to have a 360-degree view of the sports arena while staying snug in your living room. While the match streams into the VR, the user can see different parts of the stadium by moving his head around in any direction.

The technology is being developed by Radeon Technologies and the live streaming function has been their largest challenge. Radeon’s parent company designed a silicon chip that can do 100 billion operations per second for the VR content of the movie, Baahubali 2. The action in the film with a VR backdrop had to be integrated and captured into each frame of the movie in real-time, thus presuming a need for a supercomputer chip that can handle many petabytes of data (I petabyte = 1,000 terabytes).

When the VR live stream is introduced using Radeon’s technology, the sports action in a stadium will have a spherical, 360 degree view in 5k digital clarity. People at home can still view the live stream without a VR headset and get a 360-degree view by using the cursor. Due to the heavy loads of data and high-end technology, the cost of the product will most likely be expensive; however, no information has been given on a possible release date.

Kerala will host India’s first ever transgender sports meet in the state capital on 28th April. The event serves to stop the social stigma related to transgender people in India. The transgender community or ‘hijra’ has always faced oppression throughout Indian history, their communities kept away from normal society and made to work under uncertain methods of livelihood. The ‘hijra’ community do not identify as male or female but associate themselves with a third gender consisting of transvestites, transsexuals and castrated men.

Kerala first began an initiative in 2015 when they rolled out a transgender policy to end discrimination against the hijra community and inculcate them into the mainstream. The general consensus, however, still sees a need to improve their position in society and remove pre-conceived notions about them so they can lead more attuned lives. A sports meet would certainly provide a refreshing change to the current methods of improving their outlook in society, especially in the weather of movements around the world for the welfare of the LGBT community. The transgender athletes at the event will compete in six sport categories – 100, 200 and 400m sprints and 4X100m relay, shot put and long jump. Anil Arjunan, co-ordinator of the event released a statement to The Quint saying, “This will be the first-ever transgender sports meet, which is an initiative of the government. We are expecting around 20 participants from each district and the representatives of each district will compete amongst each other. Also, a three-day warm up and coaching in different items will be given to the participants in their respective districts.”

Electronic sports is scheduled to become an official medal event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hagzhou, China. Considering its popularity in Asia and the overwhelming amount of tournaments for e-sports in Asia, the Olympic Council of Asia signed a strategic partnership with Alisports, a division of the Alibaba group. The terms state that e-sports will become a demonstration event at the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in September and also at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. In 2022, the e-sports category will become an official medal event – something unprecedented and pioneering for the world of professional gaming.

E-sports has a great following internationally, with many events showing up on social media and cash rewards of a large amount for winners and runner-ups. Certain categories of games have an intense popularity in the circuit – FIFA 2017, MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and RTA (Real Time Attack) will be the genres under contesting at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

E-sports teams sometimes have full-time careers competing in circuits around the world. In India, gaming tournaments have recently had an upswing, but e-sports as a consistent area of competition is yet to catch on. Introduced recently this year, ‘UCypher’ will be India’s first major e-sports league and collate the best teams in India to play on a higher standard of professional gaming. If history is anything to go by, e-sports might definitely become a vying sport in today’s age of technology and progressive mindset.

An athlete’s struggle to reach the summit in India is known to everyone, and time and again we have witnessed players coming out and asking for support. Some get lucky while the others have something else written in their fate, and same has occurred this time around with a national kickboxer Shamfred J. Braganza.

You want to be a cricketer? Well, go ahead, why not! Oh, you want to be a kickboxer? That’s a big no.

Shamfred doesn’t have have the spotlight he deserves and certainly needs a big help from every corner. Right at this very moment, he is working as a waiter with Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd to earn his bread and butter his company has helped him all ends up, as they have provided him a sponsorship deal for various tournaments and he hasn’t let them down. They have also altered his shifts so that he gets a sustainable time to train himself.

Shankar Sarath Kumar has got off to a brilliant start in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship, picking up points in the SuperSport 600cc class double-header in Malaysia. He was representing RAMA Honda Racing by NTS T.Pro Ten10 team, and supported by Honda 2Wheelers India. It was the opening race of the season.

The achievement is all the more impressive considering that the Chennai-based youngster in coming off a serious knee injury. He looked comfortable with the bike and scored points in both the races in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Jamaican sprinters, who participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are in the midst of doping case and could lose out their medals they won in the grand tournament.

On Sunday, it was reported that the traces of a banned substance were found in the samples received at the Beijing Olympics. ARD, the German broadcaster, has claimed that clenbuterol was found in the samples of Jamaican sprint team who clinched 11 medals in the event.

Popular wrestler The Rock introduced a new documentary recently called Rock and a Hard Place which details the life of youth who have to pass through boot camp or face their jail sentences. 38 young men involved in serious crime undergo a 16-week boot camp conducted by the military in USA.

The Rock remains the best man for the job of host, his own conflict with the law as a young man are what caused him to take a positive turn in his life. The juveniles in the documentary have a chance to struggle through the physical pain or break completely and take the long road out of hell in a jail cell. The results as seen through the documentary dont always have happy endings. Some of the detainees dont make it, while others are given the opportunity to begin again.

Popular wrestler ‘The Rock’ introduced a new documentary recently called ‘Rock and a Hard Place’ which details the life of youth who have to pass through boot camp or face their jail sentences. 38 young men involved in serious crime undergo a 16-week boot camp conducted by the military in USA.

‘The Rock’ remains the best man for the job of host, his own conflict with the law as a young man are what caused him to take a positive turn in his life. The juveniles in the documentary have a chance to struggle through the physical pain or break completely and take the long road out of hell in a jail cell. The results as seen through the documentary don’t always have happy endings. Some of the detainees don’t make it, while others are given the opportunity to begin again.

24-year-old Ankur Mittal has clinched the gold medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in the double trap event, defeating his Australian rival James Willet in the final in a world record equalling effort.

Willet won the gold at the recent International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in New Delhi while Mittal only had to settle for a silver.

UFC and MMA superstar Conor McGregor whose boxing match against Floyd Mayweather remains a mere formality has stated that he is targeting a date of September to have a match against the American boxer. McGregor is currently on paternity leave, but has stated that he will be willing to take on Mayweather Jr, who is unbeaten in the boxing ring in a match-up in September.

We are now in 2017, talking about another Olympics event, which many of us don’t know about but are as important as the last year’s. The Winter Special Olympic World Games are taking place in March 2017 and India have a rich history in these Games. In these World Games, specially-abled athletes take part and since the beginning of these Games, India have collected a total of 1062 medals. Yes, you read it right.

China did win 41 medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics and stood second in the tally of medals won, but they were mocked badly by their won fans due to their “cheap restaurant waiters and waitresses” like uniforms.

As India rejoices to Devendra Jhajharia’s double gold medal glory, eyes were shifted on another gold medal prospect for India, Sundar Singh Gurjar, in the men’s javelin throw at the Rio Olympics, who somehow missed his role call.

Indian filmmaker Aditya Chopra has made a much-needed gesture by announcing Rs 10 Lakh reward for Mariyappan Thangavelu, the Paralympian who clinched the first gold medal for India this year at the Games in Men’s T-42 High Jump event .

India’s Olympic bronze but now upgraded, ‘silver’ medalist, Yogeshwar Dutt still has a chance at a gold medal from the London 2012 Games. Reports have emerged that there have further allegations of doping in Olympic sports. The previous medal winners

Olympic bronze medalist and finalist Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar seem to have found in each other a great friend. The two have been hanging around for a while now after coming from Rio. On Saturday, August 27th, the Sakshi posted a selfie picture

A Syrian swimmer and an Iranian discus thrower who fled their countries will form the refugee team at the Rio Paralympics next month, organisers said Friday. Ibrahim Al Hussein, 27, who lost his leg in a rocket strike during the Syrian conflict will

Amid celebrations for the end of the Rio Olympics, few spared a thought for Jordan’s Methkal Abu Drais who finished the marathon behind a Japanese comedian, a stray dog and an Argentinian running sideways.

Who hit, who missed at the Rio Olympics: HITS – USAIN BOLT – Despite coming into Rio with concerns over his fitness, the superstar crowd pleaser romped to a “triple triple” of gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m. The Jamaica

Japan on Monday reacted with a mix of surprise, delight and cynicism at the sight of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed up as video game icon Super Mario in a comical cameo at the close of the Rio Olympics.

Usain Bolt created history as he clinched the second gold in the Rio Olympics by winning the 200m race on Thursday. Bolt started off in lane 6th but looked easy from the beginning of the race. It looked like Bolt wanted to beat his old self when he r

Ahmad Abughaush made history by winning Jordan’s first ever Olympic medal, claiming gold in the men’s under 68kg taekwondo division in Rio.The 20-year-old beat Alexey Denisenko of Russia 10-6 in the final as South Korea’s Lee Dae-hoon an

History-maker Usain Bolt said he deserves to be among sport’s all-time greats after romping to a third straight Olympic 200m gold. With a third consecutive sweep of the 100m, 200m and relay sprints in sight on Friday, the world’s fastest

She might not be going to participate in this year’s Olympics but Mary Kom knows how to pack a punch even when she is not inside the boxing ring. Making her debut in Rajya Sabha, the pugilist raised her first question in the lower house and no wonder

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